The European Commission has requested additional information from Athens within the scope of its investigation into allegations of illegal Greek state aid to the chronically ailing Olympic Airways (OA) national carrier. Sources in Brussels also stress that the Commission will not approve any deal to privatize the debt-ridden company unless a “significant” share package passes into private ownership and no state funding is offered to the airline.

A spokesman for EU Commissioner for Transport and Energy Loyola de Palacio told Kathimerini yesterday that the Commission has still to reach a conclusion concerning the dozens of alleged irregularities under scrutiny, and thus has not even agreed on a deadline for the investigation.

But the spokesman firmly denied that the Commission has offered Athens any assurance that the investigation will have a positive outcome as far as OA is concerned. In particular, he said there was no issue of the Commissioner having told Greek Transport Minister Christos Verelis that the Commission has decided, or even proposes, to approve, before the end of the investigation, a 19.5-million-euro loan OA secured in February from state Commercial Bank under government guarantees.

This loan was only the latest in a series of alleged cases of illegal state assistance to OA under EU scrutiny, following a complaint by the company’s private Greek competitors.

An initial Commission report had noted that, given the company’s financial straits, only state guarantees could have secured such a loan for the company. The report also said that the state bank had offered the loan on considerably favorable terms.

EU sources also noted that any deal to privatize OA would have to involve at least 33 percent of the company΄s stock leaving state ownership.